There are a number of commercially known fluid solid processes which are conducted at high temperatures and which require removal of particulates from fluent gas streams. A representative example of such processes is the fluidized catalytic cracking of petroleum feedstocks. Fluidized catalytic cracking units employ both a reactor vessel and a catalyst regenerator vessel, each of which include cyclones for the recovery of catalyst particles from the gases emanating from these vessels.
Various types of cyclone supports and guides have been adapted for supporting the cyclones internally within the vessel. Many of these supports and guides are designed in an attempt to compensate for differential expansion between the various interconnected equipment within the vessel.
Notwithstanding the numerous techniques used to suspend cyclones in vessels, there still remains a need for improved techniques for suspending such cyclones, particularly for elevated temperatures where allowable stresses are quite low due to creep. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved design for hanging cyclones inside vessels. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a cyclone plenum system with each cyclone and the plenum being self supporting. These and other objects of the present invention will be better understood upon a reading of the description which follows.